the walled-off internet, or why facebook and mobile apps are good for them and bad for us
Last summer, Allan and I had plans to meet a friend for dinner, and I Googled the restaurant to get the address and details. The place came up in Google…
media
The appeal, and vacuousness, of sports team politics
Last Tuesday, the second game of the playoffs took place in New Hampshire with front runner Massachusetts Mitt leading the pack going into game three in South Carolina. For six…
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Rupert Murdoch’s Newspapers Mislead Public On Climate Change and Environment
Rupert Murdoch 2.jpg When it comes to climate change misinformation, arguably no single person has done more to spread false information to confuse the public than Rupert Murdoch. With his…
A Brief History of Plutocracy
Plutocracy has always been around us. So what’s a reasonable substitute?
How the corporate media manipulates public support for international wars
The drums of war with Iran are beating. Once again, the corporate media, on behalf of the ever-hungry military-industrial complex and it’s puppets in position of political power, will force…
My blog: Reviewing 2011, Previewing 2012
Following in the custom of New Years, I take a look at the past year for this blog and set some goals for the coming year. Almost necessarily, this results…
Charlie Brooker’s 2011 Wipe
To end the year on a fittingly sardonic note, here’s Charlie Brooker’s brilliant take on the past twelve months as darkly viewed through the pop culture lens of a jaded…
Rex Murphy’s Year Ender
CBC’s professional curmudgeon offers up his patented barnacle encrusted summary of the year’s events: If you had hypothetically slept through the entire year like Rip Van Winkle and suddenly awoken…
Rainbow Pipeline Leak — Eight Months Later…
It has been 8 months since Plains Midstream Canada reported that there had been a Rainbow Pipeline leak, 100 km NE of Peace River, Alberta. As of December 2, 2011,…
How You Can Support the Gitxsan Blockade
Photo courtesy of Gitxsan Against Enbridge website. Despite very public chest thumping, trumpeting and proclamations by Enbridge, mainstream media and Hereditary Chief Elmer Derrick, the song remains the same: the…
Global Research ’2011 Year of the Dupe’: An Awesome Read
Read ‘2011 Year of the Dupe’ by Global Research. You’ll enjoy it and appreciate some truth for a change.
On sure signs
I’d think Don Martin would have dealt with political actors enough to know when he’s being spun. But since his latest post suggests otherwise, let’s offer up what looks to…
Book Review: Suffled How it Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans
“I think Hannah Arendt did say somewhere in The Origins of Totalitarianism that the thesis of the modern state is: ‘Everyone should die.’” –Suffled How it Gush (pg. 74) I…
Taxing Capital Gains
The following also appears in The Globe and Mail’s Economy Lab: Earlier this week, Kevin Milligan questioned proposals “to increase the tax on capital gains.” Currently, Canadian income tax applies…
Conservative Health Transfers
During the federal election, I noted in a Toronto Star op-ed that the federal Conservative platform entails significant fiscal costs for provincial governments. I accepted the Conservatives’ promise to continue…
Volkswagen bends to critique, pulls sexist ad
Still from the Volkswagen Passat television ad in question. Volkswagen Canada has pulled the 2011 Passat TV ad “It pretty much sells itself” from its official YouTube channel and from…
On reasonable standards
A quick thought on how Canadian pundits may want to evaluate how political parties do their jobs – which looks to be particularly relevant given the entirely justified criticisms being…
Not Brain Candy: A Review of The Information Diet by Clay Johnson
My body no longer kills me when I come back from the gym. However, I had a moment of total humiliation today: theoretically my ideal body weight is 172 pounds…
What’s in YOUR drinking water? In Hamilton it could be Scotchgard ™
Several months ago, back in the spring of this year, Radio Canada ran an investigative report regarding the run-off of chemicals from John Munro International Airport at Mount Hope, the…